6 Reasons Why Travelers Must Try Tokyo Water Bus While Travelling to Tokyo

Most travelers who are interested to step their feet to Japan’s capital, Tokyo, must have understood that the main transportation in Tokyo would be trains and subway, as well as the bus.

Maybe travelers have also known it if there are several tourism buses in Tokyo that aim to invite tourists to enjoy the uniqueness of Tokyo from the highway. But, do you know that in Tokyo, there is another mean of transportation called water bus?

Water bus, a.k.a Suijo Bus, is a mean of water transportation which traverse the rivers in Tokyo. As a city located by the beach, Tokyo is got through by many rivers – where most of them are large – and surely those rivers are very clean, so it will be comfortable to cross through.

But special for this article, I would like to focus discussing of WHY tourists must consider to get on this Tokyo Water Bus while travelling to Tokyo. WHAT makes this Tokyo Water Bus so interesting; so sexy to be checked out by tourists? Let’s see the reasons below:

1. Tokyo Water Bus is not a public mean of transportation, instead it is a mean of transportation special for tourists.

Interior of water bus type Himiko. Photo by: muza-chan via flickr

Unlike trains, subway, and bus, Tokyo Water Bus is more intended as transportation for tourism; not just to move from one place to another. Well you can reach various popular tourism spots (see number 2), but with ticket price a little bit more expensive than other public transportation in Tokyo, it seems hard to imagine there will be locals intentionally get on this Tokyo Water Bus to go to school, campus, workplace, or vice versa.

The main advantage from taking a special tourism transportation is, besides the routes were designed to cross through interesting places, it is also because tourists will only meet people with same intention of tourism and to enjoy the atmosphere (even though actually you will rarely find strange or weird people on public transportation in Tokyo). Some ships also have amazing interior, that surely will be hard to find on other common public transportation.

2. There Are Many Routes of Tokyo Water Bus, and They Go to Various Popular Tourism Spots

If you read the article about Tokyo Water Bus at the link above, then you can see that there are many routes of Tokyo Water Bus, and most of them are connecting several spots with interesting tourism objects.

For example, Asakusa, Odaiba, Ryogoku, and much more. So, while touring and enjoying the atmosphere, you can also travel to next popular tourism object.

3. Enjoying Tokyo Waterfront Would be Most Amazing from Water Bus

Sumida River Park, a garden at the side of Sumida River. Photo by: Jonellepatrick via flickr

When generally riverside areas are identic with slums, don’t expect such a thing in Tokyo. Instead, riverside area of Tokyo are well designed, interesting, and some parts of them are used as public spaces. For example there is Sumida Riverside, which was managed to be a garden.

Not only you can enjoy that well-managed riverside area, you can also enjoy the skyline of Tokyo from the river. The best thing is to do it at night, when the lamps are on and illuminating colors to the night sky of Tokyo city. Or, you can just relax while enjoying the riverside area of Tokyo where the atmosphere changes from season to season.

4. There are many types of ships to try, from the classical type, modern, and the fancy ones.

Water bus type Himiko. Photo by: Dominique Bonnet/Google+

Because water bus was intentionally designed for tourism, so don’t get surprised to see how the designs may vary. There are water bus with regular types, the ones with open deck, the modern style like a spaceship, and even one with classical style.

The types of service vary too, starting from the ones offering seat only, up to the ones offering a dinner package as well. So, getting on this Tokyo Water Bus could already be considered as a tourism activity, and clearly it is different from regular transportation.

5. Rivers in Tokyo are crossed by various bridges with various designs

Water Bus goes on rivers, and rivers definitely will be crossed by some bridges. The interesting thing is, many bridges in Tokyo were designed with unique shapes and end up to be a special landmark. For example there are Rainbow Bridge and Kachidoki Bridge. Just by getting on Tokyo Water Bus, you will get to enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of those bridges in one straight chance.

6. Getting on Tokyo Water Bus give a unique tourism experience, if you compare it with just taking the train, subway, or regular bus.

By considering point 1-5, you can already imagine how taking Tokyo Water bus will definitiely give you such a unique experience of tourism compared with if you just go from place A to B; plus you can still access various popular tourism spots with this bus.

And actually, the ticket fare is not going to drain yor pocket either, as it is available from about 200-1500 yen (depend on the route you take); though the price might go way higher if you book the night package where the duration could get much longer than the regular trip 0it could go up to 1.5 to 2 hours).

So, for a complete experience of tourism while travelling to Tokyo, there is nothing wrong with trying this Tokyo Water Bus!